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  • Firefighters keep watch on the smoldering wreck of a twin-engine airplane that went down shortly after takeoff from the Dalton Municipal Airport early Saturday evening. Investigators say the pilot, a Chattanooga man, was killed.

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July 1, 2012

One confirmed dead in plane crash

Charles Oliver charlesoliver@daltoncitizen.com

Ernesto Lua and Juan Capistran were getting ready for a cookout when they heard the noise around 4:30 p.m.

“It was going whirrr, whirrr, like an engine that wasn’t firing right,” said Lua.

They looked up and saw a twin-engine plane flying low over the Magnolia Grove subdivision off Sane Road.

“It came right over the house. We could see the bottom of the plane clearly. It was 100, maybe 150 feet about the ground,” Capistran said.

They say the plane flew low over East View Drive, barely clearing trees and power lines, and seemed to try to turn as it approached Sane Road but instead flew nose down toward the ground.

The Whitfield County Sheriff’s Office reports that the pilot, Donald Lee Holbrook, 52, of Chattanooga, was found dead in the wreckage. He was the only person aboard the plane.

“As soon as it hit the ground, flames flew above the trees. I called 911 immediately and reported a plane crash. I don’t think they believed me at first,” Lua said. “Then we jumped in the truck and drove over there to see if we could help, but it was all just engulfed in flames.”

Capistran said firefighters and sheriff’s deputies arrived quickly on the scene.

“I was really surprised how fast they were. It was just minutes after we called,” he said.

Sheriff Scott Chitwood said the plane was a Piper PA 31, Pressurized Twin Engine Navajo.

He said that Holbrook was a Chattanooga businessman, owner of Holbrook Performance Inc., who kept his Piper at the Dalton airport. He had been dropped off at the airport by a co-worker who watched him take off, the sheriff said in a release. A short time later the co-worker left the airport and observed black smoke in an area off Airport Road, but was unaware there had been a plane crash. The worker returned to Chattanooga and was informed a plane had crashed in Dalton.

Mike Cagle didn’t see the plane, but he heard what he described as an explosion. He, too, raced to the scene of the crash.

“It went nose first into the ground. There was fire everywhere. There’s a small lake maybe 200 feet away from it. I don’t know if they were trying to land on the lake,” he said.

It took firefighters more than an hour to completely extinguish the flames that had spread to surrounding woods.

The plane crashed about half a mile from Dalton Municipal Airport, and Chitwood said based on statements from witnesses in the area it appeared the plane had engine problems.

“We are thinking possibly the plane took off, discovered engine trouble and was trying to circle back and make it to the airport.”

Chitwood said the plane crashed about 100 to 150 yards from a house. He said one woman was at home napping when the plane crash.

Chitwood said deputies will remain on the scene overnight to keep it secure. He said the Federal Aviation Administration has been alerted and is sending investigators. He said they will likely arrive today to begin their investigation.

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